Fab Five Freddy

Who is Fab Five Freddy?

Fred Brathwaite, more popularly known as Fab 5 Freddy, is a hip hop pioneer, visual artist and filmmaker. He emerged in New York's downtown underground creative scene in the late 1970s as a camera operator and a regular guest on Glenn O'Brien's public access cable show, TV Party. There he met Chris Stein and Debbie Harry. In 1981, courtesy of a name check on Stein and Harry's new wave group Blondie's single "Rapture," he was immortalized when she rapped, "Fab 5 Freddy told me everybody's fly." In the late 1980s, Fab 5 Freddy became the first host of the groundbreaking and first internationally telcast hip-hop music video show, Yo! MTV Raps.